The Otherside: Jay McClayn: This Is High School (Book 1)

When I woke up I saw Jason next to me. I was in my bed and he was in a chair next to me. I was super hungry. “I’m human.” was all I could say at first and then I realized school “Oh crap! School!” I tried to get up frantically, but Jason pushed me back down.

“It’s Sunday.” Jason said softly and calmly.

“I missed a week of school?!?” I yelled.

“Uh more like three weeks. Happy Birthday?” He replied a little scared of my response. I took a big breath trying to calm down.

“I-I’m not going to be able to graduate.”

Jason sighed. “Actually, yes you will. They didn’t even know you were gone. When were you going to tell me you got your driver’s license while I was gone? Harrison told me you are even legal to ride a motorcycle.”

I sighed because he changed the subject. “You didn’t ask.” I said softly.

Harrison walked into the room with a huge tray of food. ” I heard a birthday girl was finally awake so I got her some food.” he sat the tray in my lap as I sat up better so I could eat. Eating felt more important than questions at that moment.

After I ate half the food and wasn’t starving, I had to talk to Harrison because what he did bugged me. “You went against my wishes Harrison.” I said. I then took another bite of food. “I am very upset with you.” I had no emotion in my voice though.

“I was only protecting you. You’re like a daughter to me.” He looked down and then back up at me. “You can be mad at me all you want, but I know I did the right thing.”

I sighed “I know why you did it Harrison. You are like a father to me, but you hurt me by doing this. Not physically but emotionally. None of you guys accept my choices or obviously take me seriously.” I moved the tray out of the way. The rest of my hunger vanished because I was upset. “You made me miss three weeks of school. How is that better from me.” I could hear some anger forming in my voice.

“Hey, the school doesn’t know that; I had someone fill in. I was hoping to introduce you to her when you were in a better mood but...” A girl that look like she was my age, but I couldn’t quite tell, because she had white hair and gray eyes.

“She better be a shape shifter or the school would definitely be calling us on my absence.”

Harrison sighed while the girl giggled. “Yes, I’m Nikki, but my family calls me Snowflake. I am your stand in when you can’t make it to school.” she had a huge grin on her face.

“Hi Nikki, no offense to you, but... ” I turned to Harrison.

“Do I really need a fill in? Shouldn’t I be learning at school?” I was still mad at him.

“Uh. Happy Birthday!” He pulled out tickets from his back pocket. “I’m sending you to Snowflakes home in Nevada. Think of it as a student exchange program. You already know what you are learning in school.” he pointed at the tickets “Here, in Nevada is your chance to learn something new and about yourself.”

I quickly got up and hugged him. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” My excited voice quickly changed to a normal tone. “But I’m still mad at you for changing me back.”

I pulled away and he sighed. “They refused to teach you as a vampire. It had to be done.” He said trying to get me okay with it.

“Okay. I’m not mad.” I said reluctantly knowing that he wouldn’t quit until I said I wasn’t mad.

“Good! You leave tomorrow. You better start packing!” He turned to Nikki. “Come on Snowflake. Let’s leave the lovebirds alone.” Harrison said, right before Nikki and him left the room and shut the door.

I slowly turned to Jason. “Did you know what he was doing?” I asked

“Not entirely.” He replied softly. His face was sad which made the realization of leaving sink in. Jason was staying here.

We went quiet for a bit, until Jason broke the silence. “When did you have time to get your license?” He was changing the subject.

“I did all the studying and passed all the tests the summer before you found me. So a few weeks after my birthday I picked it up. I didn’t think it was such a big deal.”

He got up from his chair and wrapped his arms around me. “If I knew that, I would have given you this present last year.” He kissed me softly and quickly on the lips. He then pulled away, grabbed my hand and led me to the garage. Once he turned on the lights I saw a Kawasaki Mean Streak 1600 Motorcycle. It was custom painted with black and white stripes and chrome. It was a white tiger bike. I was speechless. It was so awesome. Jason pressed the button to open the garage door “Want to take it out for a spin?” I then saw a black one next to it. I assumed it was Jason’s.

“Well, not in what I’m wearing.” I was in the same clothes I was in three weeks ago. I pointed my finger at my chest and then thought of the outfit I wanted. I successfully, magically changed my clothes. I had a white tank top, dark jeans, black boots and a black leather jacket.

“Nice.” Jason said with a grin. He handed me a black helmet and once I took it he took another one and put it on . It finally sunk in, I was out for three weeks and it is was my birthday. I put on my helmet and popped on my bike and took off. He followed my lead. We didn’t go to any particular place; I just wanted to feel the wind and have that sense of freedom of it. When we got back it was dinner time and I was hungry. It was weird because I hadn’t had that feeling in a year and feeling it again, I’m just not used to it. We parked the bikes in the garage, put our helmets up on the shelf and when inside.